Trump, US delegation now likely to attend Davos meeting

By CATHERINE LUCEYJanuary 22, 2018

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is likely a go.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that if “all things go as expected” with reopening the government, the delegation will travel Tuesday and the president will go later in the week.

A delegation of Cabinet members was scheduled to leave Monday, but the group was delayed amid the federal government shutdown. But reopening was in sight later in the day after Senate Democrats dropped their objections to a temporary funding bill.

Trump planned to take his “America First” message to the gathering of global political and business elites that is rarely attended by sitting presidents.

Earlier Monday, when asked if Trump would attend if the government was still shut down, Sanders said: “I don’t know that that’s very likely. I wouldn’t imagine it is. Our priority is making sure that the government reopened and we start having the conversations that need to take place over the next couple of weeks.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said he would cancel his trip to Davos if the government was still shut down.